Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations BG Control - Stocking Single Sex LMB

Sorry, just got this, been busy Morel hunting this week!

I'm very predator heavy - but YES I do believe its sustainable using the following TJ logic:

First off, I'm commited to a consistent supplemental feeding program with AM 500/600 and LMB.

RES will feed on invertabrates and my shrimp - no worries about them.

YP will pellet train or stunt, or die. That's fine with me - I'll keep restocking every four years or so. My goal for YP is for low density trophies. I consider a 13" YP a trophy for SE Nebraska. NE Lake Management just north of me sells great YP genetics cheap. Drop in bucket to supplementally stock 100 every other year.

HSB are almost exclusively on pellets. I have yet to see they hammer a tadpole, BG, anything but pellets. I don't believe they impact my forage base much.

Half my SMB are pellet trained, and again I see them routinely pass up easy meals of 2" BG to chase pellets. Those that aren't pellet trained are about half the size of my pellet fish. I'm okay catching, caging and selling them to a series of HOA lakes down the road who don't pellet feed anyhow. I will routinely stock the top 1% pellet trained SMB from repro pond back into the main pond to keep a healthy population.

My HC are on their own - I never meant for them to make it to my main pond anyhow. I've seen a few in the shallows this Spring - they have low WRs as I won't have available forage for them until the GSH spawn.

My forage base is currently comprised of BG, GSH, Crayfish and PK Shrimp. If I had to do over again I would have stocked Male only BG and kept the rest of the mix but would have established other minnow and shiner species prior to stocking. My ultimate goal is to establish a self sustaining forage base for the main pond comprised of the following:

PK Shrimp [achieved and then some!]
GSH [achieved]
Crayfish [achieved]
Spotfin Shiner [Bill/Travis say they can establish/reproduce in ponds and top end is smaller than the GSH providing YP and SMB with more forage opportunities]
Banded Kilifish [Travis says they're a worthy pond forage minnow - they look cool and I know they are native to NE already - want to give them a try]
Bluntnose Minnow [Bill says they have high fecundity of a FH minnow but with better escape instincts enabling them to establish population]

My plan is to dig a few forage ponds this Summer and use the design discussed on the forum of a sloping bathtub with a drain to hopefully minimize or eliminate need to seine. I need to learn more about the spawning habitat for the shiners and minnows, but should be a fun project and I'm excited at the prospect of diversifying my forage base in the pond.